How to Use MarathonMeta LFG

MarathonMeta's LFG (Looking for Group) system is a squad finder built specifically for Marathon. It goes beyond a basic bulletin board - you can create detailed squad posts, link your builds, draw tactical plans on interactive maps, chat with your squad in real time, and hop on voice chat before you even load into the game.

The system is designed around Marathon's 3-player squad limit. Every post is looking for 1-2 additional players, and once your squad is filled, you have a private space to coordinate before dropping in.

You'll need a MarathonMeta account with at least one gamertag (PSN, Xbox, or Steam) set in your profile before you can create or join LFG posts. This ensures your squadmates can actually add you in-game.

MarathonMeta LFG has two post types that serve different needs.

Premade posts are for planning ahead. You set a scheduled play time, describe what you're looking for, and wait for applications. This is ideal when you want to lock in a squad before game time - set it up in the morning, review applicants throughout the day, and be ready to go when servers are active. Premade posts last longer, giving people time to find and apply to your squad.

Live posts are for right now. They're designed for when you're sitting at your PC ready to play and just need squadmates. Live posts expire faster and are sorted so the most recent ones appear first. If you're browsing LFG and want to play immediately, filter for live posts.

You can have one active premade post and one active live post at the same time, so you're covered for both planned sessions and spontaneous ones.

When you create a post, you'll fill out details that help potential squadmates decide if you're a good fit.

Title and description are your pitch - keep them clear. Something like "Chill Dire Marsh loot runs, learning the game" tells people exactly what to expect. You'll pick your playstyle (casual, semi-competitive, or competitive), platform preference, region, language, voice chat preference, and age range.

You can also select your preferred Runner shell and link one of your saved builds directly to the post. This lets applicants see exactly what you're bringing to the squad before they apply. If you haven't created builds yet, you can skip this and add one later.

Finally, you can select which map you're planning to play on. This helps people find squads headed to the same zone they want to explore.

The LFG board shows all open posts with filters for everything you care about: playstyle, platform, region, voice preference, specific Runner shells, and map. Use the filters to narrow things down rather than scrolling through everything.

When you find a post that looks good, click into it and send a join request. You can include a short message introducing yourself, and you can link one of your saved builds so the host sees what you're running. The host will review your request and either accept or decline.

Once accepted, you're in the squad. You'll have access to the squad's private chat, tactical map, and voice channel. The host can also see your linked gamertags so they can invite you in-game.

This is one of the features that makes MarathonMeta LFG different from a Discord channel. Every squad gets access to a shared tactical map of the zone you're playing.

Each squad member gets their own color-coded drawing tools. You can sketch routes, mark danger zones, circle extraction points, or highlight loot areas - all visible to your entire squad in real time. You can also place interactive markers on the map to call out specific points of interest.

The tactical map supports draw, erase, and undo operations, plus zoom and pan controls for precision. The host can clear all drawings if things get messy. When your squad session is over, the map state is saved as part of your session history so you can review what worked.

Use the tactical map during your pre-drop planning to align on where you're going, what route you're taking, and where you're extracting. A two-minute planning session on the tactical map is worth more than fifteen minutes of confused callouts in-game.

Once your squad is formed, you have two communication channels available.

Squad chat is a real-time text chat visible only to accepted squad members. Use it for pre-game coordination, sharing links, or typing callouts if you can't use voice. Messages update automatically so you don't need to refresh.

Squad voice is a built-in voice chat powered by LiveKit. Click the phone icon to join the voice channel - no external software needed. You can mute, deafen, and adjust audio settings directly in the interface. Voice chat runs through a dedicated server, not peer-to-peer, so connection quality is consistent.

Between the tactical map, text chat, and voice chat, you can fully plan and execute a run without ever leaving MarathonMeta. The goal is to make the jump from "I found a squad" to "we're coordinated and ready" as seamless as possible.

Every time your squad locks in and plays together, MarathonMeta tracks it as a squad session. Sessions record who was in the squad, what builds were linked, and the tactical map state.

After a session ends, it's saved to your session history. You can replay past tactical maps, see which compositions you've run, and review what worked. Over time, this builds into a useful record of your squad experiences.

Session history is also visible from the LFG post itself, so if you're forming a recurring squad, you can track your progress together across multiple play sessions.

As the host, you have full control over your squad. You can accept or decline join requests, kick members who aren't a good fit, edit your post details, and bump your post back to the top of the board when it starts dropping in the listings.

Once your squad is full (3 players total), the post automatically shows as filled. When you're done playing, you can close the post manually. Expired posts are automatically cleaned up.

One important detail: you can share or hide your gamertags from squad members. By default, gamertags become visible to accepted members so they can add you in-game. You control this toggle, and each squad member controls their own as well.